I got an opportunity to stock up on several new-to-me beers recently thanks to a Julioís Liquors gift card I got for Christmas. Hereís a look at several new beers on shelves now.

First up is the Beer Works Love Fest, a 6.5 percent alcohol by volume (ABV) chocolate-strawberry stout.†

This beer was purchased without reading the label. I saw ďchocolateĒ and ďstout,Ē and grabbed it. I missed the ďstrawberryĒ part. Unfortunately, I donít like strawberries.

However, taking the fact that I donít like strawberries into account, the Love Fest is a beer to seek out if you do like strawberries. Love Fest has a nice full body, the chocolate flavor is pleasant (kind of reminds me of a really good milk chocolate) and the strawberry was not overpowering.

If Beer Works changed the strawberry to cherry (you know, to cater to me), I would have loved the beer. Itís definitely worth trying if youíre a strawberry fan.

A lot of imperial stouts available today are aged in Bourbon barrels, or have chocolate or coffee or other ingredients added. Those are well-and-good, but a good, solid imperial stout thatís not barrel aged or without anything added can be perfectly fine.

This is a fine beer for a cold night. I enjoyed it and most stout fans will, too.

The problem with most ďsessionĒ IPAs, or low-ABV IPAs is there is a lack of balance. Brewers add plenty of hops to the beer, but cut down on the malts to keep the fermentable sugars and alcohol levels down. The result is usually an unbalanced beer that I donít enjoy.

The brand new Boulevard Brewing Companyís Pop-up Session IPA is an exception to this problem. Instead of a lot of bittering hops, you get more hop flavor and aroma Ė pine, grapefruit, and a little grassiness. The malts add a nice doughy companion, making this one of the more pleasant low ABV IPAs on the shelves today. I can see this making my regular beer rotation.

Boulder Beer Companyís newest beer, the Shake Chocolate Porter, lives up to its name. This 5.9 percent ABV porter tastes just like an alcohol-infused chocolate shake. (For the record, chocolate shakes are my favorite way to ingest chocolate).

The Shake Chocolate Porter is brewed with both chocolate wheat malt and cacao nibs. This is a smooth drinking beer, with a big burst of chocolate and hints of coffee.

I loved the Shake Chocolate Porter, probably the best porter Iíve had in a long-time. I will be buying this again very soon.

With Jackís Abby Brewing being just a few minutes away from the courthouse Iím in daily, I always try to get the Framingham breweryís latest beer, and I havenít been disappointed with one yet.

This is pretty close in flavor to a traditional black lager. The brewers used several specialty malts in this beer, and itís quite smooth with roasted notes and hints of chocolate. If youíre a fan of black lagers, give this one a try.

This beer pours dark black with a nice tan head. Aroma-wise, youíll get some coffee-like roastiness and a little booze. The first thing I noticed when I took a sip was how creamy this beer was. It was quickly followed by what reminded me of chocolate and hazelnut, with hints of chocolate and just a little grapefruit flavor from the hops.

This is a sipping beer Ė I actually took me an hour to drink it (Iím a rather fast drinker). But I really thought it was phenomenal.

And, last and not least, is the new Samuel Adams spring beer (seasonal creep), Cold Snap, a 5.3 percent Belgian-style witbier.

As frequent readers know, Iím a fan of most of Samuel Adams beers, except for the repeated attempts at Belgian witbiers. Every single one has pretty much missed the mark for me.

The Cold Snap is probably the best of the bunch. The beer is made with tons of added ingredients, such as the traditional coriander, as well as grains of paradise, anise, hibiscus, orange peel and dried plums. Instead of working against each other, the flavors blend together to create a pleasant, light-drinking beer. Itís not a world-class Belgian witbier, but itís a step up from their past attempts.